I remember a friend taking a massive hit off of a bucket. Falling over backwards on the sofa and going "**** hell" over and over again. All while rolling around and making himself cry he was laughing so hard. I think it was the first time he had even smoked weed.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this then
If you are worried about the effects of cannabis on mental health do your own reading and make up your own mind.

In excess I think some of the super strength modern varieties can cause mental health issues, and I speak from experience not from reading. I had 2 friends who were heavy users suffer extreme paranoia and schizophrenia. They may well have been susceptible to it anyway, but it was attributed to the weed by the doctors. They also gave it up and got much better, which speaks volumes.

Luckily I'd realised a long time before that, that it takes away your motivation to do anything with your life, wastes your youth, and ruins your self confidence...so I'd given it up in my early 20's.

A friend who developed signs of a split personality disorder after unknowingly eating a heavily-laced doped biscuit (never had cannabis before) later went on to develop a full-blown psychosis and killed himself.

I was going to add (as Woppit's link claims) it generally has a more pronounced effect on the younger developing mind as opposed to the more set-in-you-ways kinda mind mass.

Anyway - as far as I remember (a toker here, not an eater) if you over heat the cannabis when cooking it can convert the THC into less desirable cannabinoids that can leave you with an unpleasantly heavy feeling, sometimes accompanied with nausea.

For those that had a bad time eating it - it needs to be treated the same as any other drug - take a little and see how it goes (or bung in a couple of whatever and ride the wave, if you're so inclined). If you necked the entire cake and aren't accustomed to it chances are you're going to suffer.

A lot of the 'super strong' weed that got a reputation for 'inducing psychosis' is due to a couple of strains that have been bred to have a very high THC content and unfortunately a high CBN content.

These strains came to prevalence post 2003/4 after the ports closed up with the 'war on terror' ramping up with the invasion of Iraq and the increase in large scale industrial growing in the uk. The reason being a lot of growers couldnt grow good weed, but grow a strain with a massive thc level and you can still sell it as its 'strong'. The unfortunate side effect of this is the unwanted CBN's. The most prevalent of these is / was 'Cheese', which actually was a multitude of hybrids of a particular strain.

This also tends to be the strain grown by criminal gangs due to its rapid flowering cycle and high production density means you can produce lots strong weed without the ability to grow properly.

I smoked daily for a decade but for the most part avoided these strains. I found the highs were never as nice and tended to be a much more hectic high.

Incidentally I still managed to gain a Masters Degree and work at a reasonably high level in my industry during that time. However I will admit I have a bit more motivation to do other stuff since quitting regular consumption.

Like anything I think the key is moderation.. Yes there are horror stories about X person got high and then did Y or Z. Im sure there are a multitude of people who got drunk for the first time and had an adverse reaction / killed themselves / killed another person / took the first step to alcoholism etc etc however due to alcohols accepted nature you just don't hear about them in the same way.

if you over heat the cannabis when cooking it can convert the THC into less desirable cannabinoids

TBH, if you're coming back to weed after a long time away, that might be no bad thing - the stuff now is much higher THC / lower canabininininoids than "back in the day" with a consequent much greater tendency to make you "monged out" and much less giggly.

I saw a thing on the beeb a year or two ago where they had a lady testing under "laboratory" conditions - THC only: monged out to heck. 50:50 THC / canabinabinabinoid, giggly times....

My diabetic outpatient's nurse recommends brownies, if you're a decent baker, and otherwise cook it and crumble it much as you would if you're making a joint, but drop it into a yoghurt, stir and eat.

Mr Woppit - Member

A friend who developed signs of a split personality disorder after unknowingly eating a heavily-laced doped biscuit (never had cannabis before) later went on to develop a full-blown psychosis and killed himself.

In related news, my old neighbour killed himself after never taking weed.

with a consequent much greater tendency to make you "monged out" and much less giggly.

As far as I understand the whole gamut of chemicals involved (and it isn't that great an understanding, I might add), it's the THC that gives you the giggles and CBN/CBD that can bring on the heavy "monged" feeling.

Edit : Although, being a psychoactive ingredient it's effects are going to vary along with the subjective interpretation of whether or not one is monged or just simply higher than one would like to be.

Prescription junkie?? Alcoholic?? or stoner....I know which I'd choose and its one that been around much longer than owt else, never once caused death by over indulgence and has been attributed in some ways to curing cancer.